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INLSA<\/p>\n
A burnt-out shell is all that remains of Charles Ferreiras vehicle after a firecracker was tossed through an open window into his car while he was driving on the South Coast. Picture: Charles Ferreira<\/p>\n
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Durban – A business trip down the South Coast for a Pinetown sales representative yesterday ended with his car engulfed in flames after a group of young men threw a firecracker into the vehicle as he drove, he said. <\/p>\n
Charles Ferreira said he was on the N2 south near Park Rynie at 8am when the attack that destroyed his Kia Sportage took place. <\/p>\n
He described the experience as terrifying and bizarre. <\/p>\n
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane confirmed a case of malicious damage to property was being investigated by the Scottburgh police. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe motive is unknown,\u201d said Zwane. <\/p>\n
Ferreira said he was going to Port Shepstone when a white Isuzu bakkie drove up behind him and flashed its lights. <\/p>\n
He moved over and allowed the bakkie to pass, he said, but the driver pulled in front of him and slowed down. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were four youngsters on the back of the bakkie, shouting. I didn\u2019t know what they wanted.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ferreira said the men looked between 18 and 20. <\/p>\n
Ferreira decided to overtake the vehicle, but after he had done so the driver again flashed his lights, overtook him, and slowed down. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe windows of the bakkie were tinted, so I couldn\u2019t see the driver.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ferreira said he then opened his window to hear what the men were shouting. His back window was already open as the air-conditioning was not working. <\/p>\n
When the two vehicles were parallel, Ferreira said one of the four in the bakkie threw a firecracker on to the back seat of his car through the back window, laughing as he did it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what it was at first. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it might be a flare,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Ferreira said he slammed on brakes moments before the cracker went off in the car, emitting a \u201cdeafening\u201d bang. <\/p>\n
\u201cA small fire had started on the back seat,\u201d said Ferreira. <\/p>\n
He stopped and leapt out of his vehicle. \u201cWithin two minutes\u201d he said, his car was completely engulfed. <\/p>\n
The driver of the bakkie from which the firecracker was thrown continued driving, according to Ferreira. <\/p>\n
He said he took down some of the bakkie\u2019s registration details as it drove on. <\/p>\n
\u201cThree trucks stopped to help me and three fire extinguishers were used,\u201d he said, but it could not prevent his car from being gutted. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was completely wrecked.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ferreira said he could not understand why he had been attacked. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have never heard of anything like this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Witnesses have been asked to contact the Scottburgh police station. <\/p>\n
The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INLSA A burnt-out shell is all that remains of Charles Ferreiras vehicle after a firecracker was tossed through an open window into his car while he was driving on the South Coast. Picture: Charles Ferreira Durban – A business trip down the South Coast for a Pinetown sales representative yesterday ended with his car engulfed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-19179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}